From a Twitter feed, a story
Big Six publisher Penguin Group, the New York Public Library (NYPL), the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), and 3M Library Systems
today announced a pilot project to make Penguin ebooks available to
patrons of The New York and Brooklyn public libraries six months after
initial publication. The program will begin in August and, if
successful, could roll out across the country. The move comes four
months after Penguin pulled out of its contract with OverDrive.
Showing posts with label eBooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eBooks. Show all posts
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
DOJ sues over eBook pricing
A New York Times blog, Media Decoder, writes that the Justice Department has sued Apple, Inc. and three eBook publishers over pricing.
Three publishers that were investigated — Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins — have agreed to a settlement, threatening to overturn a pricing model that allows publishers to set their own e-book prices. Macmillan and Penguin Group USA, which were also named in the suit, did not settle.
The lawsuit alleges that Apple and the publishers conspired to limit e-book price competition, causing “e-book consumers to pay tens of millions of dollars more for e-books than they otherwise would have paid.”
Three publishers that were investigated — Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins — have agreed to a settlement, threatening to overturn a pricing model that allows publishers to set their own e-book prices. Macmillan and Penguin Group USA, which were also named in the suit, did not settle.
The lawsuit alleges that Apple and the publishers conspired to limit e-book price competition, causing “e-book consumers to pay tens of millions of dollars more for e-books than they otherwise would have paid.”
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Novelist fights tide, open own bookstore
After a beloved local bookstore closed here last December and another store was lost to the Borders bankruptcy, this city once known as the Athens of the South, rich in cultural tradition and home to Vanderbilt University, became nearly barren of bookstores.
A collective panic set in among Nashville’s reading faithful. But they have found a savior in Ann Patchett, the best-selling novelist who grew up here. On Wednesday, Ms. Patchett, the acclaimed author of “Bel Canto” and “Truth and Beauty,” will open Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore that is the product of six months of breakneck planning and a healthy infusion of cash from its owner.
“I have no interest in retail; I have no interest in opening a bookstore,” Ms. Patchett said, serenely sipping tea during a recent interview at her spacious pink brick house here. “But I also have no interest in living in a city without a bookstore.”
Even among the young there is an interest in holding a physical book, browsing, hanging out. But it is a tough time to own a bookstore. I just got done helping a patron who wants to read Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, but can not imagine lugging around a 630 page book, and does not believe she can finish it in fourteen days. We talked about the Kindle Fire, and, for her, as for so many others, ebooks are a solution to the problem of not having enough time at home.
Cultural leaders convened meetings in the public library to discuss who could step in and open a new bookstore. One idea, to start a co-op requiring small investments of $1,000, never got off the ground.
And they met at the library, the public library.
A collective panic set in among Nashville’s reading faithful. But they have found a savior in Ann Patchett, the best-selling novelist who grew up here. On Wednesday, Ms. Patchett, the acclaimed author of “Bel Canto” and “Truth and Beauty,” will open Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore that is the product of six months of breakneck planning and a healthy infusion of cash from its owner.
“I have no interest in retail; I have no interest in opening a bookstore,” Ms. Patchett said, serenely sipping tea during a recent interview at her spacious pink brick house here. “But I also have no interest in living in a city without a bookstore.”
Even among the young there is an interest in holding a physical book, browsing, hanging out. But it is a tough time to own a bookstore. I just got done helping a patron who wants to read Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, but can not imagine lugging around a 630 page book, and does not believe she can finish it in fourteen days. We talked about the Kindle Fire, and, for her, as for so many others, ebooks are a solution to the problem of not having enough time at home.
Cultural leaders convened meetings in the public library to discuss who could step in and open a new bookstore. One idea, to start a co-op requiring small investments of $1,000, never got off the ground.
And they met at the library, the public library.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Musical soundtrack, for ebooks
Booktrack, a start-up in New York, is planning to release e-books with soundtracks that play throughout the books, an experimental technology that its founders hope will change the way many novels are read. Its first book featuring a soundtrack is “The Power of Six,” a young-adult novel published by HarperCollins, soon to be followed by “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “Jane Eyre,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Three Musketeers.”
The idea of pairing a book with music is not new. In the past some authors have suggested full playlists to listen to while reading their books, and the best-selling thriller writer James Patterson has even given away CDs to accompany his novels. But Booktrack’s founders say that their product is an improvement on the old book soundtracks, partly because it plays at the pace of the individual reader and can be paused or adjusted with a touch of the screen.
The idea of pairing a book with music is not new. In the past some authors have suggested full playlists to listen to while reading their books, and the best-selling thriller writer James Patterson has even given away CDs to accompany his novels. But Booktrack’s founders say that their product is an improvement on the old book soundtracks, partly because it plays at the pace of the individual reader and can be paused or adjusted with a touch of the screen.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Kindle library
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Someone knows my name [electronic resource]
A patron asked for this book, and, curious, I went to take a look. Searching the title, I saw that the OPAC contains a record for an electronic resource: an excerpt from the book is read, and can be accessed through a hyperlink. Whew, libraries racing into the future (well, the present, but, still).
Friday, December 3, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Clinging to textbooks
They text their friends all day long. At night, they do research for their term papers on laptops and commune with their parents on Skype. But as they walk the paths of Hamilton College, a poster-perfect liberal arts school in this upstate village, students are still hauling around bulky, old-fashioned textbooks — and loving it.
Béatrice de Géa for The New York Times - Victoria Adesoba, a New York University student, said her decision to buy or rent textbooks depended on the course. She said e-texts tempted her to visit Facebook.
Smart of her; would that other youngsters, including young librarians, heed that. It is amazing just how addicted people become to electronic gadgets, something I well understand. But at work, one has to act professionally, and Facebooking all the time ain't that.
For all the talk that her generation is the most technologically adept in history, paper-and-ink textbooks do not seem destined for oblivion anytime soon According to the National Association of College Stores, digital books make up just under 3 percent of textbook sales, although the association expects that share to grow to 10 percent to 15 percent by 2012 as more titles are made available as e-books.
Béatrice de Géa for The New York Times - Victoria Adesoba, a New York University student, said her decision to buy or rent textbooks depended on the course. She said e-texts tempted her to visit Facebook.
Smart of her; would that other youngsters, including young librarians, heed that. It is amazing just how addicted people become to electronic gadgets, something I well understand. But at work, one has to act professionally, and Facebooking all the time ain't that.
For all the talk that her generation is the most technologically adept in history, paper-and-ink textbooks do not seem destined for oblivion anytime soon According to the National Association of College Stores, digital books make up just under 3 percent of textbook sales, although the association expects that share to grow to 10 percent to 15 percent by 2012 as more titles are made available as e-books.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Chapter and verse on e-Bookstores
As books go digital, much of the focus has been on which gadgets offer the best approximation of old-fashioned paper and ink on a screen. But there's another choice that's just as important for readers to weigh before they make the leap to e-books: which e-bookstore to frequent. Reading devices like the iPad, Kindle and Nook will come and go, but you'll likely want your e-book collection to stick around. Yet unlike music, commercial e-books from the leading online stores come with restrictions that complicate your ability to move your collection from one device to the next. It's as if old-fashioned books were designed to fit on one particular style of bookshelves. What happens when you remodel?
Come and go? It is a valid point, at any rate.
The e-bookstores share in the blame. Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc. and Sony Corp. all want you to buy their own gadgets and to continue buying e-books from their stores. For example, purchases from Apple's new iBooks store can be read only on Apple's own iPad (and soon the iPhone). Even though Apple said it would support an industry standard format called ePub for iBooks, in practice your iBooks purchases remain locked on Apple's virtual bookshelf.
These vendors are in the business of selling hardware.
For now, the e-bookstore choice comes down to which compromises readers are willing to accept. Anybody who just wants a simple way to carry digital books around might be happy with an app-based approach. But readers intent on building an e-library may want to either invest in an ePub-based collection, or hold off until the industry figures out a better solution.
Many of the biggest e-book providers fall short of putting readers fully in charge of their own digital-book collections, but they have begun to unveil their own solutions for moving your e-books around.
Come and go? It is a valid point, at any rate.
The e-bookstores share in the blame. Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc. and Sony Corp. all want you to buy their own gadgets and to continue buying e-books from their stores. For example, purchases from Apple's new iBooks store can be read only on Apple's own iPad (and soon the iPhone). Even though Apple said it would support an industry standard format called ePub for iBooks, in practice your iBooks purchases remain locked on Apple's virtual bookshelf.
These vendors are in the business of selling hardware.
For now, the e-bookstore choice comes down to which compromises readers are willing to accept. Anybody who just wants a simple way to carry digital books around might be happy with an app-based approach. But readers intent on building an e-library may want to either invest in an ePub-based collection, or hold off until the industry figures out a better solution.
Many of the biggest e-book providers fall short of putting readers fully in charge of their own digital-book collections, but they have begun to unveil their own solutions for moving your e-books around.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Amazon targets real readers
By Geoffrey A. Fowler
Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said the company's strategy for competing with Apple Inc.'s iPad was to keep its own Kindle e-reader focused on reading. He also said a reflective color screen for the Kindle e-reader was a ways off.
A ways off?
Speaking at the company's annual shareholders meeting Tuesday in Seattle, Mr. Bezos said Amazon's approach to digital reading was focused on two fronts: devices and being an e-book retailer. For the device business, he said Amazon would focus on building a Kindle that appealed to serious readers, as opposed to devices like the iPad that try to serve several different purposes.
"There are always ways to do the job better if you are willing to focus in on one arena," Mr. Bezos said. He also conceded that "90% of households are not serious reading households."
10% of households are serious readers.
The comments were the CEO's first about the Kindle strategy in about six months, during which the landscape for e-book readers and e-bookstores has changed with the introduction of the iPad and a shift in the system for pricing e-books.
Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said the company's strategy for competing with Apple Inc.'s iPad was to keep its own Kindle e-reader focused on reading. He also said a reflective color screen for the Kindle e-reader was a ways off.
A ways off?
Speaking at the company's annual shareholders meeting Tuesday in Seattle, Mr. Bezos said Amazon's approach to digital reading was focused on two fronts: devices and being an e-book retailer. For the device business, he said Amazon would focus on building a Kindle that appealed to serious readers, as opposed to devices like the iPad that try to serve several different purposes.
"There are always ways to do the job better if you are willing to focus in on one arena," Mr. Bezos said. He also conceded that "90% of households are not serious reading households."
10% of households are serious readers.
The comments were the CEO's first about the Kindle strategy in about six months, during which the landscape for e-book readers and e-bookstores has changed with the introduction of the iPad and a shift in the system for pricing e-books.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Amazon gives way on e-Book pricing
By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG
Facing the specter of Apple Inc.'s iPad launch, Amazon.com Inc. has agreed to halt heavy discounting of e-book best sellers in new pricing deals with two major publishers.
The e-book agreements, with CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster and News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers, mirror deals struck this year with Apple for the iPad: Some new best sellers will be priced at $9.99 but most will be priced at $12.99 to $14.99.
The new deals ensure that Amazon will have the same array of titles that rival what Apple will offer on its digital bookstore. Apple has forged deals with five of the six major publishers to provide titles on the iPad, which will compete with Amazon's popular Kindle e-reader.
Amazon declined to comment.
Other deals between publishers and Amazon could follow ahead of Saturday's iPad debut. The online retailer is in advanced talks with Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group, and Pearson PLC's Penguin Group, according to people familiar with the situation. Bertelsmann AG's Random House has yet to sign a deal with Apple.
Amazon, which launched its Kindle e-book reader in November 2007, has been a leader in pricing new best sellers at $9.99 in the digital format. Publishers objected to that price, fearing that consumers will come to believe that all books are worth only that much.
The issue of digital book pricing heated up earlier this year after the five major publishers, which also include Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH; Hachette, and Penguin reached an agreement with Apple to make their digital books available for sale on the iPad.
Macmillan then butted heads with Amazon by insisting on the same control over pricing.
HarperCollins Chief Executive Brian Murray said the deal with Amazon followed a month of negotiations. "Our digital future is more assured today than it was two months ago," said Mr. Murray, calling the agreement "fair" for both sides.
News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.
One digital publishing executive warned that there will likely be some near-term glitches. "People shouldn't overreact if an e-book isn't immediately available on one site or another," said Maja Thomas, senior vice president of Hachette
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page B
Facing the specter of Apple Inc.'s iPad launch, Amazon.com Inc. has agreed to halt heavy discounting of e-book best sellers in new pricing deals with two major publishers.
The e-book agreements, with CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster and News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers, mirror deals struck this year with Apple for the iPad: Some new best sellers will be priced at $9.99 but most will be priced at $12.99 to $14.99.
The new deals ensure that Amazon will have the same array of titles that rival what Apple will offer on its digital bookstore. Apple has forged deals with five of the six major publishers to provide titles on the iPad, which will compete with Amazon's popular Kindle e-reader.
Amazon declined to comment.
Other deals between publishers and Amazon could follow ahead of Saturday's iPad debut. The online retailer is in advanced talks with Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group, and Pearson PLC's Penguin Group, according to people familiar with the situation. Bertelsmann AG's Random House has yet to sign a deal with Apple.
Amazon, which launched its Kindle e-book reader in November 2007, has been a leader in pricing new best sellers at $9.99 in the digital format. Publishers objected to that price, fearing that consumers will come to believe that all books are worth only that much.
The issue of digital book pricing heated up earlier this year after the five major publishers, which also include Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH; Hachette, and Penguin reached an agreement with Apple to make their digital books available for sale on the iPad.
Macmillan then butted heads with Amazon by insisting on the same control over pricing.
HarperCollins Chief Executive Brian Murray said the deal with Amazon followed a month of negotiations. "Our digital future is more assured today than it was two months ago," said Mr. Murray, calling the agreement "fair" for both sides.
News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.
One digital publishing executive warned that there will likely be some near-term glitches. "People shouldn't overreact if an e-book isn't immediately available on one site or another," said Maja Thomas, senior vice president of Hachette
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page B
Monday, December 14, 2009
Who owns e-books?
Random House Lays Claim to E-Book Rights
By Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg
Random House, moving to stake its claim in one of the few fast-growing areas of book publishing, sent a letter to literary agents saying it owns the digital rights to books it published before the emergence of an active marketplace for electronic books.
In the letter, dated Dec. 11, Markus Dohle, chief executive of the publishing arm of Bertelsmann AG, wrote that the "vast majority of our backlist contracts grant us the exclusive right to publish books in electronic formats." He added that many of Random House's older agreements granted it the exclusive right to publish a work "in book form" or "in any and all editions."
The letter addresses one of the most controversial issues in publishing these days: who owns digital rights to older titles, often referred to as backlist books.
Mr. Dohle argues that, much as the understanding of publishing rights has evolved to include various forms of hardcovers and paperbacks, it now includes digital rights, since "the product is used and experienced in the same manner, serves the same function, and satisfies the same fundamental urge to discover stories, ideas and information through the process of reading."
Nat Sobel, a literary agent whose clients include James Ellroy and Richard Russo, both of whom are published by Random House's Alfred Knopf imprint, disagreed with Mr. Dohle's assertions.
Mr. Sobel said that prior to the September publication of Mr. Ellroy's novel "Blood's a Rover," the third volume in the author's Underworld USA trilogy, he received a letter from Random House asking for the release of electronic rights associated with the trilogy. He said he ignored the request because he has other plans for those rights.
"I don't accept Random House's position, and I don't think anybody else will either," Mr. Sobel said. "You are entitled to the rights stated in your contract. Contracts 20 years ago didn't cover electronic rights. And the courts have already agreed with this position."
Stuart Applebaum, a spokesman for Random House, said, "We believe Random House has the right to publish our authors' backlist titles as e-books. We think we can do the best job for our authors' e-books."
Several years ago, Random House sued e-book publisher RosettaBooks LLC to prevent it from selling the e-book editions of three authors—William Styron, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and Robert Parker—whose books had been published by Random House's imprints.
In 2001, in a key ruling, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a Random House petition for a preliminary injunction against RosettaBooks, ruling that Random House's contracts were limited to print books and didn't cover e-books. A federal court of appeals subsequently affirmed the district court's opinion.
In late 2002 Random House and RosettaBooks settled their litigation. As part of that settlement, Random House dropped its objection to RosettaBooks publishing the titles in question, and granted RosettaBooks the right to publish 51 additional titles. Those rights lasted between three and six years.
"At this point, all our Random House licenses have expired," said Arthur Klebanoff, CEO of RosettaBooks. "I am surprised by Mr. Dohle's letter. The last time Random House advanced the same position, it didn't work out so well for them. And I don't think it will work out so well for them now."
A second literary agent, Richard Curtis, who also owns E-Reads, an e-book publisher, said he would expect Random House to go to court to defend its new claims, as it once did.
"Someone would have to have a lot at stake to be willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to go up against Random House in court," he said. "I don't know whether anybody will feel they want those rights so badly they are willing to spend like that to prosecute a claim right up to what could be the Supreme Court."
By Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg
Random House, moving to stake its claim in one of the few fast-growing areas of book publishing, sent a letter to literary agents saying it owns the digital rights to books it published before the emergence of an active marketplace for electronic books.
In the letter, dated Dec. 11, Markus Dohle, chief executive of the publishing arm of Bertelsmann AG, wrote that the "vast majority of our backlist contracts grant us the exclusive right to publish books in electronic formats." He added that many of Random House's older agreements granted it the exclusive right to publish a work "in book form" or "in any and all editions."
The letter addresses one of the most controversial issues in publishing these days: who owns digital rights to older titles, often referred to as backlist books.
Mr. Dohle argues that, much as the understanding of publishing rights has evolved to include various forms of hardcovers and paperbacks, it now includes digital rights, since "the product is used and experienced in the same manner, serves the same function, and satisfies the same fundamental urge to discover stories, ideas and information through the process of reading."
Nat Sobel, a literary agent whose clients include James Ellroy and Richard Russo, both of whom are published by Random House's Alfred Knopf imprint, disagreed with Mr. Dohle's assertions.
Mr. Sobel said that prior to the September publication of Mr. Ellroy's novel "Blood's a Rover," the third volume in the author's Underworld USA trilogy, he received a letter from Random House asking for the release of electronic rights associated with the trilogy. He said he ignored the request because he has other plans for those rights.
"I don't accept Random House's position, and I don't think anybody else will either," Mr. Sobel said. "You are entitled to the rights stated in your contract. Contracts 20 years ago didn't cover electronic rights. And the courts have already agreed with this position."
Stuart Applebaum, a spokesman for Random House, said, "We believe Random House has the right to publish our authors' backlist titles as e-books. We think we can do the best job for our authors' e-books."
Several years ago, Random House sued e-book publisher RosettaBooks LLC to prevent it from selling the e-book editions of three authors—William Styron, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and Robert Parker—whose books had been published by Random House's imprints.
In 2001, in a key ruling, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a Random House petition for a preliminary injunction against RosettaBooks, ruling that Random House's contracts were limited to print books and didn't cover e-books. A federal court of appeals subsequently affirmed the district court's opinion.
In late 2002 Random House and RosettaBooks settled their litigation. As part of that settlement, Random House dropped its objection to RosettaBooks publishing the titles in question, and granted RosettaBooks the right to publish 51 additional titles. Those rights lasted between three and six years.
"At this point, all our Random House licenses have expired," said Arthur Klebanoff, CEO of RosettaBooks. "I am surprised by Mr. Dohle's letter. The last time Random House advanced the same position, it didn't work out so well for them. And I don't think it will work out so well for them now."
A second literary agent, Richard Curtis, who also owns E-Reads, an e-book publisher, said he would expect Random House to go to court to defend its new claims, as it once did.
"Someone would have to have a lot at stake to be willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to go up against Random House in court," he said. "I don't know whether anybody will feel they want those rights so badly they are willing to spend like that to prosecute a claim right up to what could be the Supreme Court."
Thursday, November 19, 2009
e-Wired
Article in today's Journal
Condé Preparing E-Reader Version of Wired
by Russell Adams
Condé Nast Publications Inc. and Adobe Systems Inc. are building a digital version of Condé Nast’s Wired magazine for electronic reading devices.
Makes logical sense that people reading the magazine would like it to be electronic.
The Wired e-reader application will be available by the middle of next year and will kick off similar efforts across Condé Nast’s magazines, which include Vogue, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker. Condé Nast declined to say how much money it was spending on the effort.
Publishers have struggled to render magazines on mobile devices. That is partly because most existing e-readers don’t allow for color or many of the design elements deemed necessary to sell ads and incorporate key features of the magazine-reading experience. Condé Nast executives said they expect that by the time the Wired product is ready, e-readers will have access to a new generation of hardware capable of supporting it.
Magazine reading experience. I always thought it was simply reading.
As with many existing Web and mobile editions of magazines, the Wired application will let readers “flip” through the pages of the magazine as it appears in print. Readers will be able to zoom and pan on images, launch videos and link to the Web, as well as sync the application to their smart phones.
Unlike with existing products, Wired editor Chris Anderson said, the next wave of e-readers and platforms like Adobe’s will incorporate the rich design and “lean-back elements” that are among magazines’ chief strengths.
Condé Nast, a unit of Advance Publications Inc., has moved more slowly than some of its peers in pushing its magazines beyond print. Now it is putting a heavy emphasis on its digital business at a time when its print business has come under great strain. The publisher this year has laid off hundreds of employees and closed a handful of magazines.
Condé Preparing E-Reader Version of Wired
by Russell Adams
Condé Nast Publications Inc. and Adobe Systems Inc. are building a digital version of Condé Nast’s Wired magazine for electronic reading devices.
Makes logical sense that people reading the magazine would like it to be electronic.
The Wired e-reader application will be available by the middle of next year and will kick off similar efforts across Condé Nast’s magazines, which include Vogue, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker. Condé Nast declined to say how much money it was spending on the effort.
Publishers have struggled to render magazines on mobile devices. That is partly because most existing e-readers don’t allow for color or many of the design elements deemed necessary to sell ads and incorporate key features of the magazine-reading experience. Condé Nast executives said they expect that by the time the Wired product is ready, e-readers will have access to a new generation of hardware capable of supporting it.
Magazine reading experience. I always thought it was simply reading.
As with many existing Web and mobile editions of magazines, the Wired application will let readers “flip” through the pages of the magazine as it appears in print. Readers will be able to zoom and pan on images, launch videos and link to the Web, as well as sync the application to their smart phones.
Unlike with existing products, Wired editor Chris Anderson said, the next wave of e-readers and platforms like Adobe’s will incorporate the rich design and “lean-back elements” that are among magazines’ chief strengths.
Condé Nast, a unit of Advance Publications Inc., has moved more slowly than some of its peers in pushing its magazines beyond print. Now it is putting a heavy emphasis on its digital business at a time when its print business has come under great strain. The publisher this year has laid off hundreds of employees and closed a handful of magazines.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Apps challenge rise of E-Readers
Travis Bryant, with his daughter, Ivey, reading “The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril” on his iPhone at their home in Alabama.
With Amazon’s Kindle, readers can squeeze hundreds of books into a device that is smaller than most hardcovers. For some, that’s not small enough.
Many people who want to read electronic books are discovering that they can do so on the smartphones that are already in their pockets — bringing a whole new meaning to “phone book.” And they like that they can save the $250 to $350 that they would otherwise spend on yet another gadget.
“These e-readers that cost a lot of money only do one thing,” said Keishon Tutt, a 37-year-old pharmacist in Texas who buys 10 to 12 books a month to read on her iPhone, from Apple. “I like to have a multifunctional device. I watch movies and listen to my songs.”
True enough. It just seems rather small for watching or reading; but, that's just me.
Does the future of book reading lie in dedicated devices like the Kindle, or in more versatile gadgets like mobile phones? So far, e-book software for phones does not appear to have cut into demand for single-function e-readers.
With Amazon’s Kindle, readers can squeeze hundreds of books into a device that is smaller than most hardcovers. For some, that’s not small enough.
Many people who want to read electronic books are discovering that they can do so on the smartphones that are already in their pockets — bringing a whole new meaning to “phone book.” And they like that they can save the $250 to $350 that they would otherwise spend on yet another gadget.
“These e-readers that cost a lot of money only do one thing,” said Keishon Tutt, a 37-year-old pharmacist in Texas who buys 10 to 12 books a month to read on her iPhone, from Apple. “I like to have a multifunctional device. I watch movies and listen to my songs.”
True enough. It just seems rather small for watching or reading; but, that's just me.
Does the future of book reading lie in dedicated devices like the Kindle, or in more versatile gadgets like mobile phones? So far, e-book software for phones does not appear to have cut into demand for single-function e-readers.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Stephen King E-Book delayed
Stephen King's publisher is keeping the e-book edition of his novel "Under the Dome" under wraps until the day before Christmas, as tensions mount between book publishers and retailers over the crucial issue of pricing industry blockbusters.
Aiming to preserve the value of the hardcover edition, Scribner, an imprint of CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster publishing arm, is delaying the electronic-book publication of the King thriller until Dec. 24, or six weeks after the $35 hardcover hits the bookstores on Nov. 10.
In an interview, Mr. King said that he wanted to delay the e-book edition in hopes of helping independent bookstores and the national bookstore chains sell the hardcover edition.
"I never thought we'd see people preordering a copy for $8.98," he said. "My thinking was to give bookstores a chance to make some money."
Mr. King, who described himself as a happy owner of Amazon's e-book reader Kindle, noted that the discounting by the three major retailers means that he will likely sell more copies of "Under the Dome."
However, he expressed concern for the impact the sharp discounting may have on other writers--established authors as well as up-and-comers--saying, "Who is going to buy a book for $25 when you can preorder a best seller for $9?" He noted that at $9, a new hardcover will be cheaper than the later fancy paperback edition.
"All the guys in ties want to talk about is whether a new delivery system is going to work," he added. "Nobody seems to care about the book."
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Barnes & Noble Plans E-Book Reader
Barnes & Noble Inc. said it is releasing a $259 electronic-book reader, which it will begin shipping in late November. The device, called the Nook, will compete directly with Amazon.com Inc.'s $259 Kindle and a host of digital reading devices from Sony Corp. and others.
Competition is growing between providers; this market should grow, delivering new products to consumers, though it remains to be seen how many people will gravitate toward e-books. One market segment with great potential wopuld appear to be new readers, youngsters for whom computing is a part of growing up, always present, and not a new development.
Barnes & Noble's new e-book reader, the Nook
The Nook, which runs on Google Inc.'s Android operating system, boasts a 6-inch e-paper display from E-Ink Corp. for reading and a smaller color-touch screen for control and typing. It features 3G cellphone and Wi-Fi wireless connections to download books from the retailer's online bookstore.
Barnes & Noble unveiled the Nook in Manhattan at an event well attended by CEOs of many of the industry's biggest publishing houses. Those connections helped the nation's largest bookstore chain win a concession: the ability for buyers of some e-books to lend their purchases to friends for as many as 14 days at a time. The shared books can be read on other Nooks, cellphones or computers, but a single copy of a book can only be read on one device at a time and can only be lent one time. Most other commercial e-book stores, including Amazon's Kindle store, don't allow sharing e-books.
In due time the restrictions will fade away, as they have on other media.
Several publishers, who asked not to be identified, said that they haven't yet decided on whether to allow Barnes & Noble to lend their e-books.
However, W. Drake McFeely, president of W.W. Norton & Co., said, "You can lend a physical book, so as long as it's sequential, I'm fine with it."
Precisely.
Digits
Barnes & Noble said it would also offer subscriptions to more than 20 newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times—and eventually expects to offer, in digital form, subscriptions to every major U.S. daily.
The Nook also features integration with Barnes & Noble's retail stores. Users who bring the device into the store will find that special offers, content and discounts pop up on the Nook's screen. Eventually, the company says, customers will be able to read entire e-books for free inside the physical store.
As one can with the physical book.
video: First Look at Barnes & Noble Nook E-Book Reader
Mitchell Klipper, chief operating officer of Barnes & Noble, said that he expects the Nook to help build traffic in the stores after it goes on sale. "What other device can you road test in a store?" he asked. "This could be our biggest traffic builder for the holidays."
Barnes & Noble also announced that it was shifting its e-book copyright-protection system to software from Adobe Systems Inc. That could usher in a day when protected e-books can be read more easily across many different devices. The e-book store used by Sony also uses Adobe's copyright-protection software, but Amazon still uses a proprietary format for Kindle books.
The e-equivalent to PDFs.
Competition is growing between providers; this market should grow, delivering new products to consumers, though it remains to be seen how many people will gravitate toward e-books. One market segment with great potential wopuld appear to be new readers, youngsters for whom computing is a part of growing up, always present, and not a new development.
Barnes & Noble's new e-book reader, the Nook
The Nook, which runs on Google Inc.'s Android operating system, boasts a 6-inch e-paper display from E-Ink Corp. for reading and a smaller color-touch screen for control and typing. It features 3G cellphone and Wi-Fi wireless connections to download books from the retailer's online bookstore.
Barnes & Noble unveiled the Nook in Manhattan at an event well attended by CEOs of many of the industry's biggest publishing houses. Those connections helped the nation's largest bookstore chain win a concession: the ability for buyers of some e-books to lend their purchases to friends for as many as 14 days at a time. The shared books can be read on other Nooks, cellphones or computers, but a single copy of a book can only be read on one device at a time and can only be lent one time. Most other commercial e-book stores, including Amazon's Kindle store, don't allow sharing e-books.
In due time the restrictions will fade away, as they have on other media.
Several publishers, who asked not to be identified, said that they haven't yet decided on whether to allow Barnes & Noble to lend their e-books.
However, W. Drake McFeely, president of W.W. Norton & Co., said, "You can lend a physical book, so as long as it's sequential, I'm fine with it."
Precisely.
Digits
Barnes & Noble said it would also offer subscriptions to more than 20 newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times—and eventually expects to offer, in digital form, subscriptions to every major U.S. daily.
The Nook also features integration with Barnes & Noble's retail stores. Users who bring the device into the store will find that special offers, content and discounts pop up on the Nook's screen. Eventually, the company says, customers will be able to read entire e-books for free inside the physical store.
As one can with the physical book.
video: First Look at Barnes & Noble Nook E-Book Reader
Mitchell Klipper, chief operating officer of Barnes & Noble, said that he expects the Nook to help build traffic in the stores after it goes on sale. "What other device can you road test in a store?" he asked. "This could be our biggest traffic builder for the holidays."
Barnes & Noble also announced that it was shifting its e-book copyright-protection system to software from Adobe Systems Inc. That could usher in a day when protected e-books can be read more easily across many different devices. The e-book store used by Sony also uses Adobe's copyright-protection software, but Amazon still uses a proprietary format for Kindle books.
The e-equivalent to PDFs.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
So You Want to Borrow an E-Book
Borrowing a library book is now possible without ever visiting a physical branch.
According to OverDrive, the largest supplier of e-books to public libraries, about 9,000 libraries offer digital audio books and about 5,400 of them offer e-books as well. E-book selection is still small compared to print collections, but they are growing. Other companies that distribute books to libraries include Ebrary and NetLibrary.
For the most part, library e-books are not yet compatible on Amazon’s Kindles. Amazon could shift course and embrace ePub, but an Amazon spokesman said the company would not comment on future moves in that direction.
Although there are some collections that are available in subscriptions that permit unlimited access to books by multiple users, most e-books are treated like printed ones: only one user can access it at a time. That means there can be waits for digital books just like there are for print books. On the other hand, since so few people know about the library e-book collections or want to use them, the waits for e-books are often much shorter than for printed editions.
For now.
Since borrowing an e-book does not require a trip to a physical library, readers can download at any time of day or night.
Open virtually all the time.
Below are some links to the digital e-book and audio book collections of various libraries around the country.
According to OverDrive, the largest supplier of e-books to public libraries, about 9,000 libraries offer digital audio books and about 5,400 of them offer e-books as well. E-book selection is still small compared to print collections, but they are growing. Other companies that distribute books to libraries include Ebrary and NetLibrary.
For the most part, library e-books are not yet compatible on Amazon’s Kindles. Amazon could shift course and embrace ePub, but an Amazon spokesman said the company would not comment on future moves in that direction.
Although there are some collections that are available in subscriptions that permit unlimited access to books by multiple users, most e-books are treated like printed ones: only one user can access it at a time. That means there can be waits for digital books just like there are for print books. On the other hand, since so few people know about the library e-book collections or want to use them, the waits for e-books are often much shorter than for printed editions.
For now.
Since borrowing an e-book does not require a trip to a physical library, readers can download at any time of day or night.
Open virtually all the time.
Below are some links to the digital e-book and audio book collections of various libraries around the country.
New York Public Library
E-book titles: 18,300
Brooklyn Public Library
E-book titles: 4,083
Boston Public Library
E-book titles: 3,636
Las Vegas Clark County Library
E-book titles: 5,000
Lee County Library, Florida
E-book titles: 7,000
Indianapolis-Marion County Library:
E-book titles: 1,300
BookFlix (available in 500 public library systems, including the New York Public Library, the San Francisco Public Library, the Dallas Public Library and the District of Columbia Public Library)
A collection of children’s books and complimentary videos from Scholastic. These are subscription based, so multiple readers can access the collection at the same time.
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